


In the Wake of Scarif

by bar2d2s



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: M/M, Post-Rogue One, also Pre-Rogue One, the timeline is a funny thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 19:03:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14267556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: Zeb was not present for the battle of Scarif, but Hera and Kallus were.





	In the Wake of Scarif

Zeb was not present for the battle of Scarif.

Days prior, a small band of Lasat had been spotted in the Lothal system by one of Sabine’s local contacts. She’d immediately sent word to him on Yavin IV, and off he’d flown to escort them to Lira San.

“One of these days, you’re going to tell me where this ‘safe place’ you bring your people is. I’d very much like to see it.” Kallus had remarked, helping him do pre-flight checks on the Phantom. Lira San’s location was still a secret within the Rebellion, known only to the Ghost and her primary crew, and Zeb intended to keep it that way. For now, at least.

“One of these days.” Zeb echoed, glancing back to where his lover was looking through the storage compartments. Now that he could walk more than a few feet at a time, Jacen had taken to hiding in the Phantom. Satisfied that the toddler was nowhere to be found, Kallus stood and stretched. 

“All clear, Captain Orrelios.” He declared.  He kicked the open hatch, which lead back down to the Ghost, shut as he made his way over. Zeb let out a pleased growl, grabbing him about the waist. “Ah! And I suppose you think you, mm, have time for- oh!”

Kallus gave him a  _very_  pleasant sendoff indeed, which, of course, his people smelled immediately upon entering the ship. Zeb could have cried with embarrassment. Too much time spent around dull-nosed beings had caused him to forget how sharp his own people’s sense of smell was.

“Stinks in here.” The eldest of the four he’d picked up commented, while the younger ones merely laughed. The quartet of Lasat ranged from a male a good thirty years his senior, to a female around his own age and her two children. A family. He’d found a surviving family.

“Papa, don’t be rude!” The female admonished, though she herself discreetly hid her nose in an attempt to quell her giggles. “We thank you for your swift arrival, Captain Orrelios. Even if we seem to have... _interrupted_  you.” The children, both teens or younger, only laughed harder. They reminded him of Ezra and Sabine.

“Nah, we were finished long before takeoff.” He replied glibly. That shut them up. The younger of the two, a girl, sniffed in the direction of the pilot’s seat as the rest of the family went to store their belongings and prepare for takeoff. “Can I help you?”

“It’s a human!” She said, surprised. “That’s why it smells so funny!” Zeb grit his teeth.

“So I’ll fan out the place better next time! You want to go, or not?” The girl approached him confidently, patting his shoulder.

“Once the war is over, you should go to the homeplace to stay. You’ll find a more compatible mate there.”

Oh, that was  _it_.

“My mate and I are perfectly compatible as-is, girl.” He snarled, banging his head on the ceiling as he rose to his full height. With wide eyes, she scurried back to the protective space of her mother’s lap, who smacked her on the back of the head.

“Such rudeness in the presence of a guardsman! My own blood...I’m ashamed. Please forgive her.” Zeb’s fur still bristled, but he willed himself to settle down. The girl was a child, but her mother seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. He hadn’t told any of them of his former status, just his name.

“Just...keep her quiet. I need to concentrate.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

The flight was quiet and peaceful for a time as he navigated into open space, preparing for a jump to hyperspace. The old man was dozing in his seat, the teenage boy and his sister playing some kind of card game. Once the jump was made, and his head was sufficiently cooled, Zeb stood to face them.

“Lira San still is a few hours away, and the entry gets pretty bumpy. When I tell you to, strap into your seats and hold on tight to anything you don’t want broken.” He and the mother exchanged nods. “Alright. I’ve got to check in with base, now.”

Zeb wasn’t sure why he’d told them that, they’d know soon enough. It wasn’t like there was any place private he could go to make a call. “Phantom calling Ghost. Hera, you there?” The line crackled quietly for a moment, the price one paid trying to send out messages in hyperspace, but he got a response.

“Zeb! Incredible- could barely beli- building over Geonosis-” The crackling intensified, garbling most of Hera’s message, and he smacked the transmitter a few times.

“Hera? What’s that about Geonosis?” There was a  _ping_ , as the navigation computer received a file. Zeb immediately opened it, and the image of a huge orb filled the screen. “ _Karabast_.”

The rest of their time in hyperspace positively  _crawled_. What was the orb? A ship? Some kind of mechanical moon? What did this thing have to do with Geonosis? The second they dropped back into normal space, Zeb hailed the Ghost again.

“They call it the Death Star.” Hera explained, as Chopper wheeled about in the background doing flight checks. “It’s, I know this sounds insane, but it’s the size of a moon, and has the power to destroy  _planets_. Officially, the council decided that a mission to retrieve the schematics was too risky, but a rogue team went anyway.” His heart froze in his chest. Taking risks was practically his lover’s signature move.

“Is Kal-” Hera laughed, and the ice melted. 

“No, no one we know directly was part of the ground team. Well, except that spy, Captain Andor. But we’ve been given permission to send air support to Scarif, and I’m going. Kallus is going to be my gunner. He and AP-5 are clearing out the cargo hold, did you want me to...” She trailed off, and he shook his head.

“You two concentrate on your mission, and I’ll finish up mine. Good luck, Hera.” There was a moment of silence, both on the line and in the ship, and Zeb hesitantly added, “Tell Kal to keep warm, will you?”

It was little more than an inside joke between the two of them, but just saying it out loud made him feel better.

“Can do, Zeb. See you in a few days.” And with that, they signed off.

***

Word of the destruction at Scarif reached him before anything else. Encrypted messages were pinging back and forth between Rebel ships at the speed of light, with a common thread of  _so many lost_  and  _we got the plans, we got them_. Even though he was systems away, Zeb deliberately dropped out of hyperspace on several different occasions just to try and hail the Ghost. Each time was met with silence.

The base was bustling when he landed, mechanics and flight techs as far as the eye could see. Wedge found him first, and helpfully filled him in.

“Everyone who was on the ground on Scarif is dead. Blue Squadron has some survivors, but all of their ships are scrap. We lost so many good people out there but... _we got them_!” Wedge was still following him as he approached the Ghost. The ship was charred in several new places, including the area he knew housed the communications transmitter, and he sighed in relief.

Then Kallus descended the ship’s ramp, arguing with Chopper over repair methods, and his heart practically choked him.

Pushing Wedge away with a helpful, polite palm to the face, he raced for the ramp. Kallus yelled in alarm as he was pulled off his feet, but settled quickly enough. “Zeb! You’re back! Everything went well, I take it?”

“I could have lost you.” He snarled in lieu of an answer, but it came out weak; his heart just wasn’t in it. “You could have died while I was a universe away, and I couldn’t have done anything to stop it.”

Kallus was still wearing the jacket he’d had on before Zeb left on his mission, and it smelled so strongly of  _them_  that it couldn’t help but calm his senses. They were in the middle of the hangar, and Kallus wasn’t objecting to being held several feet in the air. His legs were locked about Zeb’s waist, for Ashla’s sake, and he hadn’t said a negative word yet. 

“Now now, you must have more faith in Hera’s piloting. We were barely scorched at all.” Some of the other pilots were beginning to notice their reunion, whistling and hooting at the normally composed human. Kallus responded by making a rude gesture at them, and urging Zeb into the Ghost with a well-placed heel to his lower back.

They all but collapsed to the ground in the cargo hold, Zeb rubbing his scent over every inch of Kallus he could reach. It was instinctual, soothing. His mate was here. His mate was alive, safe.

“One of the Lasat I ferried, her name was Talsi. She was traveling with her father and two children. She was the only one of the lot that didn’t spend every possible second  _getting on my nerves_.” Kallus chuckled, stroking along the back of his neck, up towards his ears. “Her daughter told me that when the war was over, I should come back and find a more appropriate- lover.” They’d never spoken of things more serious than that, though there wasn’t any question of the fact that they were  _certainly_  more than just bed partners.

“Such cheek!” Kallus replied, laughing.

“I got...angry.” He admitted, and that gave his lover pause. “Before I left them, Talsi told me that her daughter didn’t understand that any being could be with any other being, so long as that was what both parties wanted. That she’d only ever seen Lasat with Lasat, and human with human. She asked if I was happy with you.” The memory burned bright as day for him. “I told her that you were my heart.”

 _He is my heart_ , he’d said with such conviction, and Talsi had taken a step back. It was an old phrase, one he’d heard used mostly by the most senior members of the honor guard, those who had mates and families waiting for them at the end of every day. It wasn’t something one said about a casual lover.

“Then I wish you all the happiness.” She’d replied, and they’d bowed to each other. Maybe, by the time the war ends, it would be safe to bring Kallus to Lira San. He and Talsi would get along well.

Kallus was quiet now, still wrapped around him tightly. As if he’d also needed the confirmation that Zeb was unharmed in order to breathe again.

“A curious thing to say,” he said finally, thoughtfully. 

“Well it wasn’t like I was going to tell someone else I loved you verbatim, before I’d even said it to you.” Kallus’ eyes widened, his pupils dilating as he inhaled sharply. “Because that’s what that phrase means, to my people. It means that I love you, Alex. That I’d do anything for you, to protect you, to keep you-”

Zeb was cut off by Kallus all but smashing their mouths together, holding onto him even tighter. He raked his nails down the side of Zeb’s neck, trying to make marks through his fur.

“I love you.” Kallus gasped against his lips. “I love you, I. You’re my heart. You’re my heart, Garazeb.” Things were set to devolve into something very filthy, very quickly...which was of course when Hera found them.

“I’m alive too, you know.” She remarked, kicking Zeb swiftly in the bottom of the foot, and Kallus choked on his own tongue. They hadn’t even heard her walk up the ramp.

“What do you want, a medal?” He asked sourly, as her presence caused Kallus to pull away from him. The pitiful noise he made once he’d deemed his mate to be too far away caused him to wince.

“What I  _want_  is for you two to take it upstairs.” She said, gesturing behind them to where Jacen was standing with Chopper. Zeb nodded and stood, cracking his neck.

“Can do, Hera.” He said, reaching down to haul Kallus’ entire body over his shoulder, then went to climb the access ladder one-handed.

“Ah, good evening, Hera.” Kallus said awkwardly, giving a little wave before he was pulled out of view. She shook her head, walking over to swing her son up onto her hip.

“Let’s give them some privacy, hm? Chopper, tell AP-5 that he can start moving the cargo back in. I’m going to try and catch Bail Organa before he leaves for Alderaan.” 

Droids didn’t  _get_  embarrassed, and had much worse hearing than she did.


End file.
